Puzzle



(NoModeL) J. H. PLANAGAN. PPZZLE.

No. 422,388. Patented Mar. 4, 1890'.

NIH

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES H. FLAN eAN, or BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

PUZZLE.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 422,388, dated March 4, 1890.

Application filed July 29, 1889.

To all whom) it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JAMES H. FLANAGAN,

of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and 00111- monwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a certain Novelty in Toys, which I designate the Base-Ball Puzzle, of which the following is a specification.

My invention consists of a card or board provided with a single slot or groove a a a, connecting continuously the several positions, excepting that of pitcher, which the respective members of a base-ball nine will occupy when they take their places upon the ballfield at the beginning of a game and the position at the rear of the home-plate which the nine at the bat may be supposed to occupy, and a supplemental or branch groove connecting the home-plate with the pitchers position. Within this groove are placed at hap-hazard through a slot b, connecting therewith at the side of the card, a series of doubleheaded buttons, which are to represent the several members of the nine, and including an umpire, if desired. The groove in the card is only sufficiently large to admit the shank of the button, While the heads project over upon the card and prevent the buttons from falling out or being removed, excepting through the said slot at the side of the card. These but-tons cannot be changed in the relative sequence of their positions in the continuous groove except by placing the one or two which it is desired to change in the branch groove leading to the pitchers position, and then any number of the others may be moved past the end of the said branch groove and those Within it can be moved into the series of buttons in the continuous groove when desired.

In the drawings, Figure 1' shows a plan view of the form of the groove which I make in the card; Fig. 2, a sectional view on line 00 a: of the groove to be made in a thickboard and having a button within it. Fig. 3 is a button in elevation.

The semicircular groove at the bottom, lettered from S, at the left, around to P, at the right, I call the position occupied by the players before starting to take their positions in the field,

stun 110,319,121. (No model.)

S indicates the striker or player who is to further explanation by every one conversant with this game.

The positions to be taken by the players in the field are indicated by similar letters, or figures and letters, at various locations along the groove in the card, and the problem is to move the buttons along the groove until each one bearing a certain designation is placed opposite the position in the groove having the same designation. For instance, R F is the position at the extreme upper end of the groove, to'the right, and the first thing to be doneis to get the button bearing the same letters R F into that right-field position. To accomplish this, all of the buttons preceding the one marked R F must be moved forward past the entrance to the branch groove 0, leading to P, the pitchers position, and the button" R F moved into this branch groove. Then all of the buttons which have been thus moved forward must be moved back past the end of the branch groove until the button RF can be placed in the continuous groove in advance of all the others, and, as will now be readily seen, it can be moved along the groove to the extreme position R F. The same manipulation must be followed with the rest of the'buttons until the sequence of their relative positions has been so changed as to bring them into the reverse Order of R F, C F, L F, 3 B): S S, &c., and the button bearing each of these designations has been placed at the position in the groove having a corresponding designation. After this is accomplished the buttons should then be returned to the semicircular groove at the bottom of the card in the order of the designations along its margin.

1 have illustrated a groove having a 0011- tinuous course from the catchers position to the home-plate, thence to the right, around the bases to the third base, as being the course which the player takes in running the bases, and from there to the left field, and thence to the right field; but the same result would be obtained if the course of the continuous groove were reversed-that is, from the home-plate to the third base, thence around to the first base, and thence to the right field, and make the left-field position the extreme limit of the groove; or, the continuous groove might run to the pitchers position, thence to either the first or third base, and thence around, as before indicated, and have a short branch groove at the position of the short-stop S S, the requirement of the puzzle being that there should be a single continuous groove connecting all of the positions, excepting one, and a short branch groove leading from the continuous groove to that single isolated position. However, I consider the form and course of the groove indicated in the drawings the most desirable, and it may be made by outtinga slot entirely through a thin card or board, or by making an inverted-i-shaped groove in a board, Fig. 2, of sulficient thickness to accomodate it. \Vith this construction one head of each button slides in the lateral portion of the groove, While the other head projects over the face of the board.

The entrance (1 to the groove should be closed in any suitable manner, as by gluing a strip into or across the opening.

A puzzle consisting of a board whereon the several positions'of two contesting ball-nines are indicated, all of which positions, excepting one, are connected by a continuous slot or groove, and the said excepted position connected with the continuous slot by a branch slot, and a series of pins or buttons combined with said slotted board, and severally designated to correspond, respectively, with the said several positions thereon, substantially as described.

JAMES H. FLANAGAN.

\Vitnesses:

W. W. JACQUES, EDlVARD FITZGERALD. 

